having said that, we also know that president obama and german chancellor angela merkel met earlier this week. they talked about increasing sanctions, toughening those sanctions. but sir, will it be tough enough to stop vladimir putin from moving ahead with his game plan? >> well, there's no evidence that they reached any agreement on the specifics of tougher sanctions, and certainly the europeans' economic dependence on russian energy supplies and their economic relationships with russia, especially countries like germany, make it hard for them to accept tougher economic sanctions. but this is where you need american leadership. the fact is that what putin has succeeded in doing is using military force to change international boundaries on the continent of europe. and if the europeans don't realize it, that puts them in considerable jeopardy. the european union is still on very shaky foundations when it comes to the monetary union, political tensions are rising. and putin is taking advantage of them. i think this is a very bad time for the western alliances. >> right. and historically,